Tapper saw it happen live and somehow pulled himself together to file a report. Tragic mishap? Or further harrowing evidence of The One’s penchant for playing hardball with his enemies, especially those who have betrayed him time and again?

There are no accidents in Chicago, my friends.

Midway through his speech on urban and metropolitan policy in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building this afternoon, one of his two small glass prompters came crashing down, hitting the wood floor and crashing in many pieces. It made quite a ruckus.

“Oh, goodness,” a startled President Obama said. “Sorry about that, guys.”

He then proceeded on with his remarks, “To pull our economy back from the brink, including the largest and most sweeping economic recovery plan in our nation’s history…”

For the rest of the speech the president relied on the one remaining teleprompter, to his right, and notes on his podium to finish his speech.

Shards of glass remained near the president’s feet for the duration of his speech.

Graphic photos of the remains are already on the wires. Exit question: Who’s going to take the fall for this? If only there were a simpleton in The One’s inner circle, one sufficiently childlike as not to resist being made a scapegoat, perhaps with a history of antipathy to TOTUS and who heyyyyyyyyy!

Update: Here, for posterity — the TOTUS Zapruder film.